Computing devices are incredibly widespread in today's society. For example, people use desktop and laptop computers, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet computers, etc., as well as external storage devices such as memory cards or sticks, portable hard drives, etc., to perform a countless number of tasks. Computing devices are associated with digital assets, such as files, electronic messages, documents, images, or the like, which are utilized in connection with computing tasks for which the devices are utilized.
Value, or worth, is a generally recognized property of assets. For instance, people regularly make decisions based on the worth of physical assets they own. As an example, people often limit the amount of cash in their wallet due to the risk of losing the wallet. As the total worth of physical assets in such a scenario can be estimated with relative simplicity, decisions such as these are made with minimal complication.
Similarly, value of digital assets may be desirable to take under consideration in making decisions. However, unlike physical assets, it is conventionally difficult to evaluate the total worth of the digital assets associated with a device. As an immense number of digital assets can be stored on a single device, such as a smart phone, PDA, laptop computer, portable storage device, etc., the difficulty in estimating value of digital assets may result in large collections of assets being unwittingly exposed to loss or theft.